AGRICULTURE AND LAND REFORM

Agriculture is a critical part of the Zimbabwean economy

 Agriculture is a primary activity in which man extracts food and industrial raw materials from nature on
a production unit known as a farm.
 As a result, this industry or activity is called farming.
 It involves the production of food crops in the form of cereals such as maize, wheat, rice, millet and
sorghum.
 Food stuffs like vegetables and beverages like tea, coffee, cocoa, as well as root crops like sugar beet,
cassava or yams are grown.
 Animal husbandry, which is the parallel rearing of livestock, is also undertaken for both food and raw
material provision.
 The level at which agriculture is undertaken depends on the following:
o Size of the farm
o The level of technological advancement
o Production objectives (transforming raw material into finished product with the help of energy,
capital, manpower and machinery).
o Economic history
o Capabilities of the farmer
 All this has led to various types of farming developing, ranging from subsistence farming through small
mixed farming to commercial farming.
 Specialised types of farming have also come up in the form of market gardening, horticulture, irrigation,
plantations and dairying.
 These share one common goal which is to increase food supply and raw materials to the ever-increasing
world population.
FARMING AS A SYSTEM

A farm/family plot can be viewed as a system

 A farm is a tract of land on which crops and often livestock are raised for livelihood
 A farm can be viewed as a system
 A system is a set of interacting or interdependent component parts forming a complex or intricate whole.
 The farm is a system with inputs, elements, characteristics, processes and outputs.
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 This system may be closed or open, depending on location and level of production.
INPUTS LAND PROCESSES OUTPUTS

 Natural inputs include:  Size  Ploughing  Food crops

 Sunshine  Site  Planting  Industrial crops
 Temperature  Layout  Weeding  Meat
 Soil (land)  Ownership  Harvesting  Milk
 Moisture/rainfall/water  Division and  Transporting  Hides
 Human inputs include:  Farm buildings  Storing  Ones
 Labour,  Rearing  Hooves
 capital,  Milking  Waste materials eg crop
 machinery, stalks
 seeds,  Residues and manure
 Fertilisers and
 insecticides
 Components that fall under inputs are as follows, these are natural inputs:
o Sunshine
o Temperature
o Land size
o Soil
o Slope
o Land Ownership and tenure
o Rainfall
 Natural inputs are always complemented by human inputs
 The human inputs are what the people themselves put onto the land to produce outputs
 Common Human inputs include:
o Labour
o Capital
o Seeds
o Fertilizer
o Farm machinery

FARM INPUTS: SUNSHINE, TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL

Crops require good sunshine and a certain temperature in order to grow

Sunshine
 It refers to cloud free days experienced in an area.
 The number of days with sunshine decreases as latitude increases towards the poles.
 Sunshine is important in farming because it is required in the germination of plants.
 It also enables crops to flower to produce the seeds which will be harvested as crops.
 It is also required to dry the harvest otherwise when stored with a lot of moisture content, they develop
mildew and rot.
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 Temperature
 Plants will not grow below 6°C or above 48°C.
 In cold areas, crop production can only be done under glass houses (incubators).
 In winter seasons, crops that cannot tolerate frost have to be protected by the burning of coal in pots as
well as irrigating them in the evening or dawn to reduce the risk of frost.
 Examples of crops that require cool temperatures are rubber and palm oil.
 These will only thrive at a minimum temperature of 24° C.
 Other crops will tolerate quite high temperatures even with little moisture, these are called drought
resistant crops.
 Examples are millet, rapoko and sorghum.
 The temperature factor has led to the sub division of crops into: tropical and temperate crops.
 Tropical crops are crops requiring warm weather for their growth and development, examples are maize
and banana.
 Temperate crops refers to crops that grow in the cooler climates in the world, examples are oats, barley,
rye and millet.
 Temperature is also important in animal husbandry as it determines whether open grazing or pen feeding
must be undertaken in an area.
 It also controls the type and breed of livestock to keep in an area depending on the adaptation of such
livestock to the environment.
 The temperature input together with rainfall, are used to sub-divide a region or country into natural or
agro-ecological regions.
 Temperature and sunshine determine growing seasons in seasonally humid climates.
Rainfall
 The water may be used directly in what is called dryland farming.
 It may also be drawn from rivers and underground aquifers or stored in dams and lakes to be used for
crop production and animal husbandry through irrigation.
 Its shortage has created a nomadic way of life in arid and semi-arid environments.
 Some crops require large amounts of this natural input such as tea, rice; while others are tolerate of only
small proportions for examples sorghum and millet.
 Under certain climates, both total annual amount and seasonal distribution determine a farmer’s calendar
and the crops to grow and the animals to keep.

FARM INPUTS: LAND SIZE, SOIL AND SLOPE

Crops require the right soil

Land size
 Size of the land is significant in farming because where land is short and farming land is small,
traditional farmers have to practice intensive subsistence farming.
 Subsistence farming is the growing of crops mainly for home consumption with very little or no surplus
for sale.
 Under modern systems, small farm sizes lead to activities like market gardening, horticulture and
silviculture.
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 Silviculture is the growing and cultivation of trees.
 Agriculture occurs on land and therefore without this input the activity ceases.
 Where land is plentiful and farms are large, then commercial farming plantation agriculture, shifting
cultivation and nomadism may be undertaken.
Soil
 The soil characteristics are the most important.
 These include:
(a). Porosity (is a measure of how much of a rock/soil is open space). This space can be between soil
grains or within cracks or cavities of the rock.
(b). Permeability (is a measure of the ease with which a fluid (water in this case) can move through a
porous rock or soil),
(c). Structure (soil structure, refers to the arrangement of soil and how it separates into units called soil
aggregates. An aggregate possesses solids and pore space),
(d). Tilth (Soil tilth is its physical condition, especially in relation to its suitability for planting or
growing a crop).
(e). Water retention capacity (is the maximum amount of water that a given soil can hold)
(f). pH value (determines acidity or alkalinity of the soil) and humus content
 Sandy soils are good for root crops and legumes such as groundnuts and potatoes.
 Loams are excellent for maize and tobacco.
 Clay soils are good for cotton, sugar cane and wheat.
 Acidic soils require application of lime fertilisers as inputs to neutralize the acidity of the soils.
 Alkaline soils need acidic fertilisers.
 Crops like tea naturally need acidic soils whilst soils with a tendency to waterlog must be used for crops 
like rice, otherwise draining through ditches must be done to successfully grow other crops.
Slope
 This is crucial as it determines the drainage of the soil as well as utilization of machinery.
 On steep slopes the gradient is naturally high, it may be necessary to form ridges or terraces in-order to
reduce the erosion of the soils and retain water long enough for it to penetrate to the plants roots.
 This factor has led to the sub-division of crops into lowland crops for example maize, wheat and tobacco
and hillside crops such as tea and coffee.
 Machinery can work without problems on slopes of up to 11°, although the optimum 12° to 5°.

FARM INPUTS: LAND OWNERSHIP

A communal farmer
Land ownership or tenure
 This mainly results from socio-economic and political as well as historical factors that prevail in an area.
The tenant or leasehold system of land tenure in one where a landlord leases or rents land to
tenants.
 Tenants get very small portions of land on which to work on and at the same time contribute their labour
to work on the landlord’s farm.
 At harvest, up to 90% of what the tenants get is contributed to the landlord.
 This is an extremely exploitative system which has been one the basis of international capitalism.
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 Tenants carelessly use the land aimlessly with very little effort or knowledge given to conservation
measures.
 The freehold system of land tenure is one where ownership is private.
 In Zimbabwe and most developing countries, this form of ownership was not based on purchasing the
land but rather on political decisions.
 While there may be advantages of the threshold tenure system such as maximum and careful utilization
of the land, this approach to land ownership has created numerous social, economic and problems.
Another land tenure approach is the communal one.
 Under this system, land belongs to everybody in the community.
 The state or chief holds the land in the interest and trust of the people.
 Portions for settlement and ploughing are allocated to households as and when need arises.
 Where the population is rapidly growing, the land through the inheritance system is sub-divided into
uneconomical fragments very difficult to improve through mechanization.
 This system is common in Zimbabwe’s communal land.
State ownership is another tenure system.
 In this system the Government would own its own farms, where it undertakes its farming or resettles
people on its land to undertake co-operative farming.

HUMAN FARM INPUTS: LABOUR AND CAPITAL

Capital and Labour are important on farms

 These fall under Human Inputs
Labour
 This refers to the number of people involved in a production system, their skills or technical know-how
as well as their production objectives.
 In traditional farming systems, the labour is provided by family members and usually has little technical
know-how.
 At times the labour is shared communally (nhimbe/humwe) in order to hasten work at critical times of
production for example ploughing, weeding and harvesting.
 Under commercial farming systems, the labour is large, hired and usually skilled.
Capital
 Capital refers to financial assets or the financial value of assets, such as cash and funds held in deposit
accounts, as well as the tangible machinery and production equipment used in environments such as
factories and other manufacturing facilities.
 Inputs such as pesticides, insecticides and herbicides fall under capital.
 A farmer with a lot of capital can hire the labour required, buy the land, the machinery, the seeds and
fertilisers.
 He can also build modern storage facilities, buy modern breeds of livestock to improve on quality and
quantity unlike one who is poor.
 Communal farmers lack this capital due to poverty and so always appeal to government to acquire
things like land, tractors and other equipment.

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 Presence of capital has meant that some farmers can undertake perennial cropping even in very seasonal
climates as they invest their money in irrigation schemes.

HUMAN FARM INPUTS: SEEDS AND FERTILIZER

Fertilizer is often a critical input

Seeds
 These determine the germination rate, growth status and productivity level of crops.
 Traditional farmers use seeds from the previous year’s harvest.
 These seed mostly would have been damaged by fungi, insects and rodents such that their germination
rate is very poor.
 A modern farmer at the other hand, uses hybrid seeds treated with chemicals.
 Such seeds have nearly 100% germination rate, the plants grow healthy and yields are very high.
Fertiliser
 These come in different forms.
 Traditional varieties include cow dung, anthill soil, night soil, humus, boma manure and potash (ash).
 Chemical fertilisers are manufactured from factories through chemical processes.
 These include all the nitrates, sulphates, ammonias and urea.
 Problems currently being faced in the acquisition and use of both groups of fertilisers in Zimbabwe
 For traditional sources, cattle are too few now from dying from droughts and diseases resulting in very
small amounts of cow dung being produced.
 Anthills have virtually disappeared through exploitation and overuse especially in communal areas.
 Trees are the major source of humus and ash. These too have reduced due to deforestation and
desertification.
 Chemical fertilisers are very expensive for both communal and commercial farmers.
 Their continued use has negative effects on ecosystems.
 For example they pollute water, leading to eutrophication.
 Eutrophication is excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to run-
off from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life.
 Following this, overcrowding occurs and plants compete for sunlight, space and oxygen.
 Continued use of chemical fertilisers does not guarantee a proportional product from the soil as the law
of diminishing returns starts operating.
 Shortage of real foreign currency to import necessary chemicals used in the manufacture of fertilizer and
components used by the industry

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 HUMAN FARM INPUTS: FARM MACHINERY

Farm Tractors are widely used equipment

Farm machinery
 This is a very crucial human input in that it determines the productive capacity of a farming system.
 The machinery used depends on the technological advancements of that community.
 Machinery helps in making work light in processing such as land clearance, ploughing, planting,
harvesting and even transport and storage.
 Farm machinery may be divided into two categories.
 These are the traditional machinery and the modern machinery.
 Example of traditional machinery are hoes, plough, and wheel barrow and scotch cart.
 Examples of modern machinery are tractor, seed-drill, and cultivator and combine harvester.

FACTORS INFLUENCING FARMING: INTRODUCTION

Farmers looking for pests on bean crop

 The output of a farm is affected by :
o The physical conditions of the environment
o This includes conditions like climate,
o Soil and biotic factors of insects,
o Pests and diseases.
o Farming is also influenced by Social and Political factors
o As well as Economic Factors

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 FACTORS INFLUENCING FARMING: ECONOMIC FACTORS

Farming requires transport to move the produce to the market

Transport
 Types of transport available, time taken, and the cost of moving raw materials is one of the economic
factors.
 For perishable commodities for example milk, an efficient transport network is a necessity.
 For bulky goods for examples potatoes transport costs must be lower for outputs to be profitable.
 Items should be grown as close to the market as possible.
Markets
 Economic factors also operate on the basis of demand, market prices for farm produce and the
consumption patterns of the market.
 If demand for certain products is high, then supply must increase and this means increasing production
of the commodity in demand.
 This affects prices which must rise and the farmers make huge profits.
 Role of the market is closely linked with transport.
 All farmers want to locate as close to the market as possible to reduce costs of inputs and outputs.
 In order to accommodate as many farmers as possible, farm sizes must be small and this forces farmers
to practice intensive farming.
 However, because the demand for land is so high close to the market, this land is generally expensive.
 Market demand depends on size and affluence of the market population.
 It also depends on religious and cultural beliefs.
 For example the anti-tobacco lobby is internationally so successful that tobacco production in
Zimbabwe in under threat.
 Changes in behavioural patterns of consumers economically affect production on farms.
 As distance from the market increases, farm size increases and there is a change from intensive to semi-
intensive, semi-extensive and finally extensive farming.
Technology and capital
 Technological developments such as new strains of seed, cross-breeding of animals, improved
machinery and irrigation may extend the areas for optimal conditions and the limits of production
(Green Revolution).
 Green revolution is a large increase in crop production in developing countries achieved by the use of
artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yield crop varieties.
 Lack of capital may mean that countries are unable to take advantage of these developments.
 Where capital is available, productivity is high but where it is scarce, it is low.

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 FACTORS INFLUENCING FARMING: PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Physical factors also affect agriculture

Temperature
 These are critical for plant growth because each plant or crop type requires a minimum growing
temperature.
 In temperate latitudes this is 6°C. Below this members of the grass family, including cereals, cannot
grow.
Growing season
 Growing Season is the number of days between the last frost of spring and first frost of autumn.
 Growing season varies by crop; Cotton needs 200, Spring Wheat needs 90.
Rainfall/water supply
 The mean annual rainfall for an area determines whether farming is likely to be based upon tree crops,
grass, cereals or irrigation.
 Few crops can grow when there is less than 250mm a year.
 Seasonal distribution is more significant than annual total rainfall.
 Long steady periods of rain allow the water to soak into the soil.
 Short heavy downpours lead to surface runoff and soil erosion.
Latitude
 Growth is controlled by decrease in temperature at height.
 In Britain few grasses (including hay) can produce commercial yields above 300m.
 In warmer latitudes wheat can ripen at 3000m.
Wind
 Wind increases evapotranspiration rate.
 This allows the soil to dry out and to become vulnerable to erosion.
 Some winds are beneficial to agriculture, for example Chinook.
 Chinook winds are a warm dry wind which blows down the east side of the Rocky Mountains in Canada
at the end of winter.
 This melts snow on the prairies, lengthening the growing season.

FACTORS INFLUENCING FARMING: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FACTORS

Social factors also influence farming

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 These can also include socio-cultural factors.
 The social factors include issues of the traditions of people together with consumption behaviour.
 This may include capabilities of the farmer which are controlled by economic and perhaps political
issues.
 For example, in much of rural Africa, people are used to subsistence farming and land sub-division
(fragmentation) for so long that low production has become the norm rather than the rule.
 On the other hand, farmers of European origin have always commercialized their farming following
very strict capitalist rules.
 Co-existence of such parallel farming economies in most former colonies has created economic dualism
and political friction.
 This has led to the Third Chimurenga commonly known as Hondo yeMinda in Zimbabwe.
 Commercial capitalists have acquired large tracts of land through colonial constitutional means,
marginalizing indigenous people in the process with the result that output on commercial farms has
always been higher but ironically with the help of cheap indigenous labour.
Government
 In centrally planned governments it is the state not the individual that makes the farming decision.
 EU quotas and subsidies can affect crop choice.
 In countries like Zimbabwe, government determines producer prices for agricultural commodities in
advance and farmers respond by growing the crops with profitable producer prices.
 Traditionally in Zimbabwe there has been a major shift in communal areas from growing small grains
such as rapoko, millet and sorghum to the growing of cash crops like cotton, tobacco, maize and in some
areas, coffee, sugar cane and vegetables.
 Some have commercially ventured into dairy farming in the form of co-operatives.

FARMING TYPES IN AFRICA

A subsistence farmer
 Zimbabwe and in a larger sense Africa are endowed with such a wide diversity of environmental
conditions and cultures.
 This was enhanced as a result of it being colonized by different European countries for over a century.
 Naturally that led to a variety of farming systems existing on the continent.
 These range from traditional systems through small scale mixed farming to modern commercial
enterprises.
 Key Terms
 Subsistence farming is the growing of crops mainly for home consumption with very little surplus for
sale.
 Shifting cultivation and bush fallowing fall under this type of farming as in the Chitemene system in
Zambia, Milpa in India, Ladang in South East Asia and Roca in Central and South America.
 Mixed farming is where the farmer grows crops and rears livestock at the same time whether on a small
or large scale. This has numerous advantages.

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 Commercial farming is growing crops and undertaking animal husbandry on a large scale to sell the
products on local and international markets. Agriculture in this system is big agri-business.
 Plantation (estate) agriculture is a specialized type of commercial farming majoring usually on one
perennial crop on even larger pieces of land.
 Irrigation farming is the growing of crops with the help of artificial application of water on the land
when climatic and weather conditions cannot sustain crop growth.
 The water is drawn from rivers, lakes, dams, underground aquifers and springs.
 Intensive farming is the concentration of agriculture on a small piece of land in order to maximize
outputs.
 A lot of capital, labour, fertilizer and other input will be concentrated on this small piece of land.
 Production per unit area of land is high.
 Extensive farming is where agriculture is undertaken on a very large piece of land, usually with the aid
of machinery.
 Production per unit area of land is low but quite high per head of labour.
 Nomadic pastoralism is the movement of people and their livestock from place to place looking for
pasture and water.
 Co-operative farming is when farmers form a group and then indulge in farming as a unit, sharing
expenses and profits in the process.

FARMING TYPES IN AFRICA: SUBSISTENCE FARMING

Subsistence Farming
 Subsistence farmers grow traditional crops such as maize, rice, sorghum, groundnuts, rapoko, millet and
cassava.
 They keep livestock in the form of cattle, goats, mules, donkeys, pigs and some poultry.
 This is done on a small scale and in a very simple way.
 The farmers use simple tools to prepare the land for farming, in weeding and at harvesting.
 Equipment used include hoes, axes, ox-drawn ploughs, knives, fire and baskets.
 The inputs on the farm are usually small in amounts.
 Seeds come from the previous harvest and so have very low germination capacity.
 Lack of money to buy tested hybrid seeds and artificial fertilisers inevitably leads to very low yields in
subsistence farming.
 To enhance production, some farmers use animal manure and ashes.
 The farmers lack scientific methods of farming such as crop rotation.
 This with time lowers the yields as the same piece of land is used for growing the same crop annually.
 The family provides virtually all the needed labour for the production of crops but occasionally two or
more families may come together and help each other when they need more labour than one family may
provide.
 In this type of traditional co-operative farming, payment is in the form of food and drink rather than in
cash.
 Storage of harvest is done either in the open or in make shift granaries of pole and dagga.

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 Such facilities crate problems in that ants, rodents, termites, fungi and the elements of weather destroy
the harvests before consumption.
 The main types are shifting cultivation and bush fallowing.
 Both types involve what is called slash-and-burn agriculture.
 Slash and burn agriculture is a widely used method of growing food in which wild or forested land is
clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned.
 The resulting layer of ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize
crops.
 The term may be extended to include nomadic pastoralism and small scale sedentary farming in much of
Africa, as long as the farmers survive on what they produce always.
 This economy is at or below the poverty datum level.
Advantages of subsistence farming
 The system employs large numbers of people.
 It is a cheap system and not many expensive modern inputs are required.
 It does not require foreign currency.
 Burning kills weeds and some pests.
 With multi-cropping on one piece of land, soil erosion is prevented.
Disadvantages of subsistence farming
 It is labour intensive
 Usually involves inefficient farming techniques
 Very little money if any is generated from farming
 There is limited production which means it does not meet the food, raw material needs of the country
 Cannot take advantage of increased demand
 It is usually rain-fed which means it is susceptible to droughts
 Small yields per hector
 Poor farming techniques are usually employed
 Few varieties of crop are grown

FARMING TYPES IN AFRICA: BUSH FALLOWING

Maize Field
 In many respects, it is similar to shifting cultivation but differs in that instead of rotating homes, the
cultivated land is rotated.
 The once cultivated area is abandoned without any crops for about five years for it to regain fertility.
 This period of non-use and rest is called the fallow period.
Areas where practiced in Africa
 Some parts of Zambia, Tunisia and Nigeria
Characteristics
 Farming is done on a subsistence level
 It involves the use of simple tools like hoes and axes.

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 It is common in the rural areas with abundant farmlands.
 It involves small holding farmlands.
 Crops grown are usually yam, cassava, maize and so many others.
 Farmland are left to fallow after one or two years of cultivation.
 It use family labour.
 It uses slash-and-burn method of land preparation.
 Pests and disease are not controlled.
 Bush fallowing is practiced where population is very low.
 Problems associated with bush fallowing and shifting cultivation
 Deforestation as trees in large tracts of land must be cut to provide enough branches for ash.
 The Bemba in north-east Zambia clear two hectares of land to supply ash to only half a hectare of
garden.
 Burning destroys valuable timber of indigenous trees which could have been profitably exploited
commercially.
 The burning loosens soils making them prone to erosion.
 It is thought that the system is wasteful in that 900 kg of nitrogenous and carbon compounds go up in
the air as smoke for every one hectare of cleared forest.
 The system simplifies and eventually destroys complex forest ecosystems.
 This certainly kills microorganisms that are vital links in an ecosystem.
 Tropical slash-and-burn agriculture is partly to blame for the hazy atmosphere and the resultant global
warming.
 Conversion of tropical rainforests and savannah woodlands into secondary forests and eventually into
shrub and desert environments has been blamed on these farming systems.
 With an increase in population, pressure from sedentary (settled) farming and government legislation in
much of Africa, these farming systems are dying a natural death.(There is no more free land to shift to)
 The systems are too traditional and prone to the unpredictable changes of nature and so cannot support
large populations.

NOMADIC PASTORALISM

Fulani Nomads
 Another traditional farming system still practiced in Africa and dates back for centuries is nomadic
pastoralism.
 The people who practice nomadism are called nomads.
 Livestock kept by the nomads in Africa include goats, sheep, donkeys, camels and mules especially in
the Sahara desert and cattle in wetter parts, particularly the big-horned Zebu.

Nomadic group Area of operation

 Fulani  Sahel of West Africa
 Masai  Southern Kenya and Northern
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 Nomadic group Area of operation
Tanzania
 Tuaregs  Sahara
 Bedouins  Sahara
 Rufa'a Al Hoi  Sudan
 Ingesana  Sudan/Ethiopia
 Butana  Sudan
 Bama  Namib desert
 Bushmen  Kalahari desert

 Reasons for practicing nomadism

 Nomads move from place to place in the manner they do because of the following reasons:
 Low rainfall.
 Existence of long dry seasons which destroy pastures and evaporate all surface water storage.
 Lack of pastures.
 Lack of permanent water storage.
 Tradition of the people.
 Marginal nature of the environment in arid and semi-arid areas.
 shifting positions of the ICT rain belt coupled with the advance and retreat of the tsetse fly

NOMADIC WAY OF LIFE

Children of Nomads
 Nomads are always on the move and their way of life is quite tough due to the harsh environment.
 Nomads move following traditional routes and following rain belt zones.
 They travel light to enable them to quickly break camp and move on.
 As they get to an area, they set up camp.
 Men move out herding the livestock while women and children grow crops.
 As pastures run out and water run dry, the whole group, usually a clan, break camp, pack up and move.
 In West Africa, they are forced to move north by the approach of tsetse flies from the south.
 Their whole life depends on livestock for meat, blood, skins for clothing and making tents, bones
needles and for manure.
 Nomadic tribes are war-like, occasionally clashing with sedentary farmer over land rights or invading
settled farmers or urban settlements to get food.
 They are very proud and brave people, using to warding off predators to their livestock using bare
hands, spears, arrows, knobkerries or machetes.

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY NOMADISM

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 Nomads of North Africa
 The way of life led by the nomads creates a lot of problems to the environment, to themselves, to other
people and to African governments.
 These problems include:
(i) Cattle diseases.
 These spread as they migrate because they do not vaccinate their animals.
(ii) Overgrazing.
 To most nomads, livestock are a symbol of wealth and therefore numbers are more important than
quality.
 This leads to uncontrolled overgrazing.
 It has been suggested that nomadism in the Sahel region of West Africa has been partly responsible for
the southward advance of the Sahara desert with overgrazing being responsible for desertification.
(iii) Deforestation
 The Masai in East Africa and the Fulani of the Sahel cut branches of trees to feed their cattle on the
shooting foliage before the rainy season, destroying the vegetation in the process.
(iv) Soil Erosion
 This is accelerated by overgrazing, deforestation and moving of people and livestock along traditional
routes.
(v) Increased drought and desertification.
 This is due to overgrazing, deforestation and soil erosion.
 Watering holes dry up due to siltation, evaporation sources are reduced, the atmosphere dries up and
drought results.
(vi) Conflicts
 There are occasional conflicts with settled farmers, leading to bloody tribal wars.
 Some conflicts are because nomads do not know any political boundaries and move at free-will,
spreading their destruction in the process.

SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY NOMADISM

Sedentarization is a possible solution

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 The problem caused by nomads are a cause for concern for settled farmers and governments in Africa,
as well as international organisation such as the United Nations.
 As a result, measures have been undertaken to deal with these problems with varying degrees of success.
(i) One solution is to sedentarise the nomads.
 The United Nations devised a scheme for the sedentarisation of nomads in the Sahel.
 Another solution is to commercialise the animal husbandry of the nomads after settling.
(ii) Commercialisation of nomadism
 Since the nomads already have large herds, the idea is to now improve the quality of the animals which
the farmers can sell and derive cash.
 This is done by building dip tanks to rid the animals of tick-borne diseases, vaccinating the animals,
destocking and undertaking controlled grazing as well as fattening the livestock before sale.
 Pastures may be irrigated for them to become perennial.
 The solution above can only succeed if the nomads understand and accept the rewards.
(iii) Therefore, massive education campaigns are to be undertaken to enlighten the nomads on
problems and benefits.
 Educated nomads have quit the tradition of moving around.
 In already devastated lands, rehabilitation programmes are being implemented though afforestation,
reforestation, regrassing and building dams for irrigation projects.
 It is important to note that the environmental conditions under which nomadism occurs are the harsh
arid or semi-arid with very low rainfall, drought and scanty vegetation

NOMADISM CASE STUDY: THE FULANI OF WEST AFRICA

Fulani herder
 The Fulani practice their nomadism in a vast tract of land called the Sahel stretching from the Atlantic
coast to the Ethiopian Highlands in the east.
 This region covers 7 countries, the so-called Sahel countries which include Mauritania, Mali, Niger,
Burkina Faso, Chad, the Sudan and Benin.
 Parts of Guinea, Nigeria and Cameroon are part of the areas visited by the Fulani.
 Sahel means Fringe as the area lies on the fringes (edges) of the Sahara desert to the north and the
Savannah grasslands to the south.
 It is characterised by very long dry seasons and short wet summers.
 It is hot, occasionally subjected to dust storms from the north.
 The vegetation is semi-arid shrub land consisting mostly of thorn bushes and baobab.
 Watering holes appear in the short rainy season when also green, abundant pasture bloom from May to
August.
 During this period tsetse fly move north ahead of the rain-bringing Inter Tropical Convergence Zone
(ITCZ) but retreat southwards when the ITCZ shifts to the south.
 This rhythmic northwards advance and southward retreat of the ITCZ and the tsetse fly control Fulani
movements.
The movement of the Fulani
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 During summer, as the ITCZ moves northwards, it brings heat, rains and tsetse flies.
 The Fulani have to move northwards ahead of the flies which kill their cattle through nagana.
 They also move into the highlands which are cooler and not infested by tsetse fly.
 They settle where pastures and water are available.
 The Fulani, numbering six million people, mainly keep cattle as a symbol of wealth.
 It is estimated that before the great Sahel drought of the 1970s, they had over 16 million cattle but the
drought decreased the number.
 Today they own about 8 million cattle due to a successful restocking exercise.
 As they settle in an area, they build villages, strictly along clan lines and in groups of 20-40 families.
 From these base camps, men spread out into bush, grazing the livestock.
 Women and children grow crops in fertile valleys and on the highland plateaus.
 As the dry season approaches and watering holes dry up due to the southward retreat of the ITCZ, tsetse
flies also shift southwards.
 The Fulani descend from the plateaus/highlands to the valleys and plains below and trek southwards but
always behind the tsetse belt.

NOMADISM: A CASE STUDY

Sahel Nomads
Sedenterisation of Nomads in the Sahel
 In this scheme, an area to settle the nomads is selected by UN officials.
 A deep well is sunk at the centre, to provide water throughout the year.
 Twenty or more homesteads are pegged at radius of 1 km from the well and homes are built here.
 Fields are separated away from the well for each homestead.
 In summer, when rains are naturally falling, the settlers graze their livestock away from the well since
pastures will be available.
 During this time, it is prohibited to graze within 1 km radius around the well.
 When it is winter time, the animals can now be grazed toward the central well.
 Pastures can be irrigated and crop stalks used as supplementary feed.
 Each farmer will only be allowed a maximum of 15 heads of livestock.
 In this way, it is felt the nomadism will stop, the animal numbers controlled, animals vaccinated and the
living standards raised.
 Permanent homes are built and the farmers indulge in both crop production and animal husbandry, a
sustainable type of mixed farming.

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 SMALL SCALE MIXED FARMING

Small scale mixed farming in rural Zimbabwe

 This type of farming is undertaken on a small piece of land with the aim of producing crops both for
home consumption and sale.
 It is an intensive type of farming.
 It is mixed in the sense that farmers grow crops and rear livestock at the same time but all done on a
small scale.
 This type of farming embraces both traditional and modern farming methods though the latter are not
widespread due to social, political and economic restrictions.
 Area of occurrence
 Small scale mixed farming is the most common type of farming in Africa including the communal lands
of Zimbabwe.
 Traditionally, it was subsistence type of farming but witnessed changes over time, acquiring commercial
characteristics with the introduction of cash and currently is more commercial than subsistence.
 Except where there are ranches, irrigation schemes, plantations and state lands in the form of forests,
game reserves and national parks, small scale mixed farming will be found in rural Africa south of
Sahara.
 It is also practiced in the terraced slopes of Rwanda and Burundi, through the small holder coffee, tea,
pyrentrum and sisal plots in Kenya and Tanzania.
 In Zimbabwe ground nuts maize and cotton are grown.

CHARACTERISTICS AND METHODS OF SMALL SCALE MIXED FARMING

 The characteristics and methods of small scale mixed farming are uniform across the face of Africa.
 The land owned by the peasant farmers is very small ranging from a quarter to 5 hectares.
 This was a result of colonialism where the colonisers took large pieces of land to create commercial
farms and leaving the indigenous population with very little land.
 Another result for the small pieces of land was sub-division and fragmentation over the years by
household heads to their heirs.
 These small pieces of land have been farmed for decades if not centuries with the result that they are
now eroded, infertile, barren and bare.
 There is little crop rotation as people practice monoculture to produce the staple food crop year-in and
year-out.
 On these small pieces of land, capital investment is very low as the farmers are poor.
 The machinery used is backward and other inputs are traditional and scarce as population is increasing.
 Animals are grazed in open pasture in winter or summer and is only stall-fed if it is about to be sold.
 In some areas, watering points for animals are far and in-between.
 Herd boys have to drive the livestock 10-15 km daily to water them.
 In summer the animals are healthier as natural pasture is in good shape but in winter once crop residues
have been exhausted as fodder and water is scarce, the animals quickly deteriorate in quality with a lot
dying in the season.
 Dip tanks are far from home steads with an average of one serving 15 000-20 000 cattle.
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 At times the dip tank does is not functional and the animals suffer from tick-borne diseases.
 The livestock number have declined drastically from an average of 30 to a homestead to about five.
 This is due to persistent drought in Zimbabwe and other African countries or due to the fact that cattle
and goats are sold to raise money for the education of children in the home or for other household need
like food and clothing.
 This farming system is dependent upon natural rainfall because the farmers have very little capital with
which to harness water for irrigation.
 Consequently, it is called dry land farming and depends largely on the course of nature.
 If disasters like drought and floods strike, the farmers lose everything and starvation sets in.
 The farmer’s calendar in Zimbabwe, for example, is determined by the seasons.
 Small-scale farmers, for example, those in Zimbabwe face numerous problems and these can be
categorized into two, namely land and capital.

Land (Crop
Inputs Processes Outputs
production)
 Settlement and
 small land  ploughing by oxen or tractors  food crops
Transport
 Large family labour  planting by hand or seed drills  cash crops
 Little capital  weeding using hoes  capital
 harvesting manually
 Few insectcides thrashing and winnowing  manure
drying
 Natural rainfall  transporting  meat
 Few skills  storing  milk
 Communal
 machinery-ploughs, hoes,
grazing  hides and skins
sickles, knives, machetes
 manure, ashes and humus
 marketing
 previous years seeds
 crop residues
 Less irrigation
 small scale
 desertification
 cattle, goats, sheep,donkeys  overgrazing
poor quality livestock

COMMERCIAL CROP FARMING

Commercial Tobacco Farming

 Commercial farming involves the growing of crops and the rearing of animals on a large scale for sale
of products.
 Commercial farming is agribusiness with the farmer aiming to have the highest returns from the farm.

Page 19 of 43
 To achieve this, the farmer must have adequate land, capital from inputs, water for crops or animals and
the necessary expertise or skills.
 Climatic conditions must also be favourable to the type of farming chosen by the farmer.
 Labour must be available and cheap.
 Markets, transport and machinery are all crucial for commercial crop farming.

AREAS WHERE IT’S PRACTICED

Zimbabwe Rest of Africa
 Tobacco  Tobacco-Malawi, South Africa, Nigeria
 Maize  Groundnuts-Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal
 Wheat, barley  Cotton-Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria
 Cotton, paprika  Tea-Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia
 Tea, deciduous fruit  Coffee/Cocoa-Ghana, Nigeria, DRC, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivore
 Sugar cane  Rubber-Liberia, Nigeria, DRC, Cameroon
 Coffee, groundnuts  Palm oil-Nigeria, Cameroon, DRC
 Soya beans  Maize-South Africa, Zambia
 Citrus, vines  Sugar cane-South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania

Inputs Processes Outputs

 Land-500 to 100 000 ha  land preparation-tree felling using  Food crops-maize, millet,
bulldozers, caterpillars and ripper groundnuts, rice, sorghum
saws, ploughing by tractors, basal and wheat, potatoes, beans,
dressing of fertilisers apples, vegetables.
 Rainfall-water for irrigation from  Planting-using seed drills or by  Industrial crops-tobacco,
rivers, dams, lakes or aquifers hand tobacco cotton, oil seeds, sunflower,
soya beans, sugar
 Capital-from banks or other  Weeding-by hand of hired labour.  Beverages- Tea, coffee, vines
farmers.
 Labour-from the farmer himself,  Spraying-using back packs or by air  Meat-fresh, frozen, dried and
skilled and semi-skilled workers crafts, hired labour. salted.
from the population.
 Machinery-tractors, disc harrows,  Harvesting-combine harvesters for  Milk-fresh, pasteurized,
ploughs, seed drills, cultivators, cereals or cultivators for potatoes. powdered, cheese, yoghurt
lorries, spray aircraft, combine
harvesters, graders.
 Agro-chemicals-insecticides,  Transporting-by tractors or lorries  Skins and hides-for leather
herbicides, vaccines, fertilisers or rail or air for flowers. industries e.g. making belts
and shoes
 Hybrid seeds-from research  Storage-use of barns.  Bone, horns and hooves-for
stations and production farms. glue, buttons, enamel, pet
foods
 Breeding stock-from other  Processing, grading and packing-  Manure- for feeding crops.
farmers or imported for tea, coffee, tobacco and cotton. Capital-for re-investment, for
Marketing-local and abroad. labour.

Advantages of commercial crop farming

 Self-sufficient in food supply.
 Improving the diet of people resulting in a well-nourished nation.
 Foreign currency earnings through exports to other countries.

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 Employment creation in various stages of commercial farming, raising of living standards.
 Development of industries either to support agriculture or to use agricultural raw materials.
 Development of infrastructure for example roads, rails, airstrips, education, health.
 Diffusion of farming skills to local small-scale farmers.
Disadvantages of commercial crop farming
 Takes up much land when other farmers have none.
 Monopoly of products leads to little control of prices on the market.
 Much land lies idle as not all land on commercial farms is utilised.
 Suppresses growth of the small scale sector due to large economies of scale.
 Under-paying of unskilled labour.
 Poor housing and sanitation on the farms.
 Use of child labour during crucial periods of planting and harvesting, bordering on child abuse.

PLANTATION (ESTATE) FARMING

A tea estate
 This is the large-scale production, usually of one crop on a large piece of land called an estate, for an
extended period of time.
 The crop grown here may be perennial, that is, grown over one year on the land or annual, that is, grown
in one season during the course of the year.
 Plantation farming is a specialized type of commercial farming undertaken on a larger scale than the
commercial farming.
Characteristics of estates
 The following are some of the general characteristics which apply to the majority of estates;
 There is a tendency of monoculture as one crop is grown on the same land for many years, usually
applicable for tree crops.
 Most estates are owned by transnational corporations (TNCs) or by government because that large
capital outlay required for their starting and running cannot be raised by individual farmers.
 Land is leased by a host country to a TNC which will be working on the land while paying
commissions or royalties to the government of the host country.
 There is specialisation of production with specialists and research centres on the estates.
 Each estate is self-contained and very efficiently run. There are factories, workers’ houses, schools,
clinics and recreational facilities on the estates. Some have power and radio stations.
 Production is market-oriented. Produce is sold on both the home and external markets.
 There is production of both industrial raw materials and food crops.
 Attached to them are local out grower farmers which benefit considerably from the estates.
Importance of estates to countries such as Zimbabwe, Malawi and Liberia.
 Given the size of operation of estates, they play an important role in countries where they are located in.
 They create employment to thousands of people both local and expatriate.
 They produce raw materials for industries.

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 They build their own factories, processing and manufacturing plants leading to industrial growth of a
country.
 They produce food for local people.
 They produce cheap goods for local people.
 They build roads and rails, developing transport and communications in remote areas.
 They provide services to their workers and to the local communities, for example, schools, clinics,
hospitals, pubs and stadiums.
 Some provide technology, research and training and bursaries to local farmers and people.
 They provide revenue to the government through taxes, commissions and royalties.
REASONS FOR THE DECLINE OF PLANTATION FARMING IN AFRICA

Sugarcane in the Lowveld

 Despite the advantages of estate farming, estate farming has its problems.
 They exhaust soils of the same nutrients since one crop may be grown for up to 30 years or more on the
same piece of land.
 They are monocultural and if a crop disease breaks out, it spreads very quickly on the same crop
undetected until the damage has been done.
 Many profits are repatriated out of the host country and little is reinvested locally.
 They degrade the land quickly and leave for greener pastures when the land is exhausted and useless.
 They occupy vast tracts of land while the indigenous people are landless.
 Most top jobs in the running of the estates are for foreigners with the local people doing poorly-paid job.
 They may indulge in local politics and at times may sabotage the economy of the host country to gain
political mileage.
 With large scale production, they easily monopolise local food markets at the expense of small scale
indigenous products.
THE MAJOR ESTATES OF ZIMBABWE: HIPPO VALLEY CASE STUDY

Hippo Valley Estate

 Hippo Valley estate is located in the S.E Lowveld of Zimbabwe.

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 Size-Large land of size 111 4555 ha leased to a company by government.
 Ownership-Ownership is by Anglo-American Corporation a TNC with headquarters in London.
 Products-Products that are produced include sugar cane, bananas, oranges and beef.
 It started off mainly by growing sugar cane but has diversified to enhance profits.
 Products are for the home and external markets.
 Employment-The estate employs 6 500 permanent workers and about 4 000 contract workers during the
cane cutting period.
 Industrial growth- There is a sugar mill for processing cane and also an Afdis factory for making spirits
and beers.
 Research and training– Next to the fence separating the estate from Chiredzi town, a sugar cane
research station is suited to the environment to produce quality cane for export.
 Infrastructure-Hippo Valley High School, Chiredzi general hospital, banks, country clubs, pubs,
beerhalls, roads, rails and thermal power station.

ESTATE SIZE (Ha) MAIN CROPS/LIVESTOCK

 Nijo  1 042  Horticulture and maize
 Muzarabani  1 400  Cotton, beans
 mushumbi  600  Cotton
 Sanyati  2 050  Cotton, wheat, groundnuts
 Doreen's Pride  9 591  Cotton, wheat
 Sisi  1 875  Cotton, soya beans
 Antelope  1 500  Cotton, wheat
 Balu  9 388  Dairy, beef
 Jotsholo  769  Cotton, rice, wheat
 Ngwezi  1 129  Cotton, wheat
 Kezi  20 700  Beef
 Fair acres  450  Cotton, wheat, beans
 Nyamazura  1 410  Fire cured tobacco
 Transsau  11 999  Beef, dairy
 Pungwe valley (Katiyo)  3 786  Tea, coffee
 Rumbizi (Chiwira)  6 560  Tea, coffee, bananas, apples
 Nandi  657  Cotton, vegetables
 Tshvovane  471  Cotton, wheat
 Chisumbanje  5 189  Cotton, wheat
 Middle Sabi  3 772  Cotton, wheat
 Rusitu  2 672  Coffee, macademia nuts, pineaples, flowers
 Sikato  1 746  Dairy, maize, wheat
 Ratelshoek  2 771  Tea
 Zona  495  Tea, dairy
 Hippo valley  11 455  Sugar cane, bananas,oranges, beef
 Triagle  13 560  Sugar cane, beef
 Mazowe  4 558  Citrus, maize, beef
 Mkwasine  1 890  Wheat, cotton,sugar cane, coffee, beef
 Elsewhere in Africa, important estates are found in Malawi at Thyolo, Makwasha and Mulanje for tea.
 In Liberia estates are at Habel and Cavala for rubber and in Kenya at Kericho, Sotic, Wandi Hills and
Limuru, all for tea.

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 IRRIGATION FARMING

Small scale irrigation

 This is the artificial application of water on land in order to grow crops when prevailing climatic and
weather conditions cannot sustain such crop growth.
 This expensive farming system is carried out in order to:
o Increase food production for the ever expanding human population.
o Produce crops throughout the year.
o Deal with problems of moisture-stress on crops during inter-seasonal and intra-seasonal droughts.
o Bring marginal lands into active production.
o Generate more employment.
o Produce industrial raw materials and save foreign currency on imports of these.
o Raise living standards of people employed.
o Improve the national economy.
o Harness and utilize water that might have been lost through run-off.
Environmental conditions promoting irrigation farming
 Whereas this type of farming may occur anywhere, where there is water and land, ideally some
conditions must prevail for optimum irrigation to be undertaken.
 There should be existence of vast stretches of gently sloping land which will enable easier laying down
of irrigation pipes, digging of canals, creation of larger fields or even permitting gravity flow of water
onto the fields thus reducing pumping expenses.
 Clayey sub-soils reduce water loss through seepage otherwise canal need not be lined with concrete,
reducing running expanses.
 Hot, dry environment (semi-arid to arid areas) conditions provide the heat required for fast plant growth.
 The dryness reduces the incidence of crop diseases and pests.
 Hot, dry conditions also lead to the growth of bushy or grassy vegetation which is not difficult to clear.
 Overall, hot, dry areas have low population densities and so there is not much displacement of people.
 Presence of large rivers and aquifers ensure adequate supply of water needed for irrigation.
 Dams may be built on rivers to store water or the water may be drawn from the rivers if they have the
perennial flow straight to the fields.
TYPES OF IRRIGATION

Page 24 of 43
 Sprinkler irrigation are a form of modern irrigation
 irrigation may be divided into two groups namely:
 traditional forms of irrigation and
 Modern ones.
Traditional forms of irrigation
 Under traditional methods, there’s the water wheel moved by draught power or humans, the shaduf
(popular in the Lower Nile), the Archimedes screw and flood or basin irrigation.
 A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms
of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number
of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim which carry the water onto the irrigation land.
 Shaduf, also spelled Shadoof, hand-operated device for lifting water, invented in ancient times and still
used in India, Egypt, and some other countries to irrigate land. Typically it consists of a long, tapering,
nearly horizontal pole mounted like a seesaw.
 A shaduf is a large pole balanced on a crossbeam, a rope and bucket on one end and a heavy counter
weight at the other.
 By pulling the rope it lowers the bucket into the canal. The farmer then raises the bucket of water by
pulling down on the weight.
 The Archimedes screw, also called the Archimedes’ screw or screw pump, is a machine historically
used for transferring water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation ditches.
 Water is pumped by turning a screw-shaped surface inside a pipe.
 Surface irrigation has evolved into an extensive array of configurations which can be broadly classified
as: (1) basin irrigation; (2) border irrigation; (3) furrow irrigation; and (4) uncontrolled flooding.
 This is when the irrigation water either runs off the field or begins by being placed into a pond on the
surface, transferred to the irrigation land.
Modern forms of irrigation
 For modern types, there’s the use of windmills to pump the water, diesel and electric pumps, overhead
sprinkler irrigation, use of siphons, boom irrigation methods (central pivot system) and the bouzer and
trickle technique.
 In both groups of irrigation methods water is drawn from either perennial rivers or dams/lakes or smaller
rivers or night storage dams or from tanks or from underground aquifers.
 Canals or pipes may carry the water over vast distances into irrigated fields.
 A windmill is a mill that converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called
sails or blades.
 Centuries ago, windmills usually were used to mill grain, pump water, or both. Thus they often were
gristmills, windpumps, or both.
 A diesel pump is the device that pumps diesel (as the fuel) into the cylinders of a diesel engine, this may
produce electricity which then is used to pump water into irrigation pipes an water the crops.
 Overhead sprinkler irrigation is a pressurized irrigation system where water is distributed through pipes
to the field and applied through a variety of sprinkler heads or nozzles.
 Pressure is used to spread water droplets above the crop canopy to simulate rainfall.
 Siphoning is common in irrigated fields to transfer a controlled amount of water from a ditch, over
higher elevated sections of land.
 A boom system consists of one or more pipes containing nozzles that apply water as the system moves
over the plants.
 Drip irrigation is sometimes called trickle irrigation and involves dripping water onto the soil at very
low rates (2-20 litres/hour) from a system of small diameter plastic pipes fitted with outlets called
emitters or drippers.

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 THE MAIN IRRIGATION SCHEMES OF AFRICA AND ZIMBABWE

Vaal Barrage dam in South Africa

 Almost every country in Africa has irrigation schemes of different sizes, most of them too small to note
but the big ones are few due to the absence of rivers from which to draw water from.
 They are also few because of the large expenses involved in installing irrigation facilities.
 Commercial farmers have established their own small-scale irrigation schemes because they have the
capital to do so.
 For most peasant farmers in Africa, the irrigation facilities they use are built for them by governments
and they are leased small plots on which to farm in the scheme.
 Bigger irrigation projects are the domain of governments or Transnational Corporations which have
sufficient funding for the projects.

Country Schemes
 Zimbabwe  SE Lowveld, Central watershed and northern schemes.
 Zambia  Kafue, Mulungushi, Gwembe
 Kenya  The Seven Forks project,galana-Athi schemes
 South Africa  Vaal Barrage, P.K Leroux, H-Verwoed, Torquay, Tugela.
 Malawi  The Shire Valley scheme
 The Sudan  The Gezira scheme, the Manaquil scheme, the Gumuiya scheme
 Egypt  The High Aswan scheme, the Lower Nile project
 Nigeria  Kainji scheme, Middle Niger delta scheme, sharing Orner scheme with Chad
 Mali  The Selingwe scheme

GEZIRA VERSUS LOWVELD IRRIGATION SCHEMES

Gezira Irrigation cotton plants

Gezira Irrigation Scheme
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 Is one of the largest irrigation schemes in the world
 It is found in the state of Al Jazirah in Sudan
 It is located at the confluence of the two Nile rivers the Blue and White Nile
 It is close to the capital of the country Khartoum
 The project was started by the British Colonial government of Sudan and Egypt
 Water is taken from the Blue Nile by the force of gravity and flows to the fields
 The clay soils of the area minimises loss by seepage
 Cotton was first grown at Gezira since 1904
 Sennar Dam was built as a reservoir in the 1920s
Similarities between Gezira and Zimbabwe’s Lowveld Irrigation Schemes
 The similarities between the Gezira and the S.E Lowveld irrigation schemes are fewer than the
differences but still a few can be found from both a physical and socio-economic point of view.
 Environmentally, both lie in a semi-arid climate with a long dry season of 9 months and a short 3 month
wet season.
 As a result, the vegetation is thorn bushes and baobab trees.
 Both have rich volcanic soils, Gezira ones coming from the Ethiopian Highlands and S.E Lowveld soils
being the product of the weathering of basalt rocks into clays.
 The schemes lie on vast expenses of gently tilting land, allowing for gravity flow of water to the fields.
 The areas had low population densities due to the harsh environmental conditions.
 Both schemes have each a large scale commercial components as well as an indigenous outgrowers’
component.
 Roads and rails have been built linking the irrigation schemes with markets.
 Industries have grown up on both schemes to process the agricultural products produced, ginneries on
the Gezira and sugar mills in the S.E Lowveld.
Differences
 The differences between the two, however, far outweigh the similarities.
 Ownership is different in the sense that, the Gezira belongs to government and is run by the Gezira
Management Board.
 This board leases land to tenants who work on the land and sell their produce to the board.
 On the other hand, ownership of schemes in the S.E Lowveld of Zimbabwe is varied.
 Some belong to the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) for example Sikato, Nandi
and Chisumbanje while others belong to Transnational Corporations for example Hippo Valley belongs
to Anglo-American Corporation.
 Triangle belongs to the Swiss-based Nestle Company.
 Outgrowers in the S.E Lowveld buy their own farms unlike the leasing in the Gezira.
 The Gezira scheme relies on only two rivers, the Blue Nile and the White Nile, while the S.E Lowveld
relies on far too many large and small rivers.
 The Gezira only has two dams, the Sennar and the Jebel Aulia dams, whereas the S.E Lowveld has very
many dams.
 The Gezira relies mainly on canal and flood irrigation, the S.E Lowveld not only has this but also uses
overhead sprinkler irrigation.
CATTLE RANCHING AS A SYSTEM

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 Grazing Cattle
 Cattle ranching, like any other farming activity, is a system, complete with inputs, processes and
outputs.

 Inputs  Processes  Outputs

 Meat-fresh, frozen, chilled,
 Large land-the ranch  Buying livestock
canned, smoked, dried
 capital-to buy breeding bulls and cows,
weaners, dipping chemicals, medicines,  Herding cattle, paddocking  Offals
fence and to pay labour
 Labour- for paddocking, herding,
 Dipping  Skin/hides
dipping, dosing, and fattening the cattle
 Transport-lorries  Vaccinating, dosing  Hooves
 Weaning, Dehorning,
 Water- from the dams  Bones
Castrating bullocks
 Salt-natural and artificial,
 Slaughtering, Transporting  Horns
silage/hay/stock feeds
 Fencing materials, medicine-for dipping,  Manure
 Fattening, marketing
vaccinating and dosing Capital

Organisation of the beef industry

 Three groups of people in Zimbabwe are responsible for the rearing of livestock, especially cattle for
sale on the market.
 These are the commercial farmers, the small-scale communal and resettlement farmers and the Cold
Storage Company (CSC).
 CSC is a commercialised government parastatal entrusted with the responsibility of the running and
marketing of all livestock in the country.
 Commercial farmers, Government and the CSC have large ranches, for example, Mwenezi Ranch, the
biggest in Zimbabwe with over 100 000 cattle while communal and resettlement farmers have small
communal grazing areas and communal dip tanks.
 Commercial farmers and the CSC announce area by area when cattle are sold at specified sale pens over
the radio.
 Buyers assemble here and bid for the cattle on sale with the highest bidder getting the beast first.
 Usually the CSC buys the cheapest or reject beasts which they have to feed and fatten before sale for
slaughter.
 There are sale pens for small-scale farmers as well with the CSC buying almost all the cattle from this
source.
 The cattle are then grazed on open pasture, crop residues and are intensively stall-fed on stock feeds just
before slaughter for them to gain weight and produce high quality beef.
 The CSC markets the meat locally to supermarkets after slaughtering them at its abattoirs.
 Some farmers sell their cattle directly to butcheries.
 The CSC also markets the beef to the European Union (EU) which has granted Zimbabwean annual
quota of 10 000 tonnes which earns the country money.
Problems faced by the beef industry
 Drought,
 Foot and mouth,
 Liver fluke,
 Lump skin,
 Black leg,
 Nagana,
 Ticks,
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 Poachers/rustlers.
LIVESTOCK FARMING

Dairy Farm
 Animal husbandry is the rearing of livestock, cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys by a farmer in order to
sustain himself and his nation.
 Commercially, for Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa with the exception of South Africa’s sheep for the
wool industry, the important animal husbandry activity is cattle rearing which is always split into two
categories, dairying and ranching.
Dairy farming
 This is a specialised type of commercial livestock farming particularly cows in order to produce milk
and milk products.
Areas of occurrence
 Dairy cows are very sensitive animals.
 They need a cool, wet climate with plenty of water, a climate that is free from pests and diseases.
 One with plenty of grass with a high carrying capacity in order to support many beasts on a small piece
of land.
 Where natural pastures dwindle in the course of the year, it is necessary to grow fodder grasses such
as alfalfa  and Lucerne on which to feed the animals.
 Dairy farms must locate close to markets where demand for milk and milk products is high because milk
is a perishable commodity.
 They locate along major roads to quickly deliver the milk to the consumers.
 If they are far from markets, then refrigerated transport must be provided for the milk to get to markets
still fresh.
 The farms also locate close to large urban settlements because it is from these that they will get some of
their inputs such as medicines, feeds, cans and transport vans.
 All too often, dairy factories which process the milk into various products are located in these urban
settlements.
Types of dairy cattle kept
 There are numerous types of dairy cows kept on farm which include both the indigenous and the exotic
breeds but for commercial purposes, four breeds are outstanding.
Jersey- brown to yellowish to nearly black.
 A mature cow weighs 450 kg.
 This is a hardy animal suited to hot humid conditions.
 It produces milk high in carotene, giving it the yellow colour.
Friesland- a rugged large animal with very large udders.
 Cow weighs 750 kg when mature.
 Black and white markings are distinct.
 It’s economical in producing both milk and beef.
 It can tolerate hot dry areas with dry season fodder and watering necessary.
Ayrshire- light to deep red, mahogany or brown or white alone.
 Vow weighs 500 kg when mature.
 Short body blocky cow producing less milk.
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 Short teats make it difficult to milk using machinery, however, a good grazer under adverse conditions.
Guernsey-golden yellow to red with white marks also rugged.
 Mature cow weighs 545 kg.
 Milk is second only to that of the Jersey in milk fat.
 Land redistribution has contributed to the closure and down-scaling of some dairy projects, for example,
the Kintyre Stud farm in Norton has now been partitioned into residential stands.
COMMERCIAL RANCHING

Brahman cattle
 This is the large scale rearing of livestock mainly to produce meat for sale.
 In Zimbabwe however, the ranching has of late been diversified with the farmers not just keeping cattle
and sheep but also wildlife and ostrich farming which are more profitable.
 Diversification always cushions farmers against disasters like droughts and falls in commodity prices.
 It is important to note that the value of beef cattle has been increasing over the years.
Areas of occurrence
 Unlike dairy cows, beef cattle are more tolerant to a wide variety of environmental conditions, including
the hot drier semi-arid parts of the country.
 Being an extensive type of farming, ranching can occur in marginal area where human population
densities are low to enable farmers to carve out large ranches.
 The activity is also undertaken in wetter parts of Zimbabwe where the farms are smaller due to the
higher carrying capacity of the ecosystem found there.
 Hot dry areas of the country have sweetveld runner grasses, thorn bushes and mopane trees whose
leaves are very nutritious to livestock hence they are natural cattle ranching areas.
Types of beef cattle kept
 There is greater variety of cattle reared on ranches as compared to their dairy counterparts.
 The breeds can still be divided into two categories namely; indigenous and exotic.
 A third has emerged from the cross-breeding of indigenous and imported varieties.
 Indigenous varieties are more resilient and adapted to the local environment but do not produce high
quality beef.
 The imported breeds have problems with our climate and environment so cross-breeding with local
varieties has been undertaken to produce animals that are better adapted and producing high grade beef.
TOBACCO FARMING IN ZIMBABWE

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 Tobacco farmers selling their produce at TSF
Growing conditions and growing area
 This accounts for 30 % of the country forex earnings and 12% of GDP.
 It employs over 300 000 people.
 Region 2 major growing area.
 Rainfall 700-1000 mm and temperature is 21°C
 Soils are well drained sandy soils.
 Plant seeds in nurseries that are fertile.
 The seedbeds are mulched to retain moisture.
 Tools are washed in formalin to protect seedlings from diseases and fumigation is also done to kill pests.
 Ploughed fields are ridged in preparation for transplanting.
 This is done in September-October.
 Seedlings are transplanted to the fields and irrigating is done.
 Weeds are controlled by spraying or physical weeding by hand.
 Harvesting is done by hand when the crop is ripe.
 Crop ripens at 2 levels per week, the leaves turn golden in colour.
 Tractor collects the harvested leaves to a barn.
Processing and marketing
 Tobacco processing is called curing, which is the controlled removal of moisture from the leaf.
 Flue curing occurs in barns by use of pipes carrying steam around the barn called flues.
 The steam in the flues raises barn temperature.
 Barns are not to be over-packed as heat would not be evenly distributed.
 Leaves wither slowly and become tender.
 Sun and fire curing is done on racks in the open.
 Sorting the leaves is next done on the basis of type, colour, size, texture and blemish.
 Packing occurs to transport the tobacco to auction floors for sale.
 About 70 countries pass through tobacco sales floors annually.
Problems
 World anti-tobacco lobby threatening viability of the crop-smoking causes lung cancer and respiratory
complications.
 Competition from other producers notably Brazil and Russia.
 Unpredictable prices on market.
 Increasing costs of labour which is now highly unionized.
 Coal prices are also increasing or there are coal shortages from Hwange.
 Fertiliser costs are sky-rocketing, affecting not just tobacco farming but the whole agriculture sector.
 Prolonged rains or very wet seasons reduce quality and output.
TEA FARMING IN ZIMBABWE

Growing conditions and growing area

 A perennial tree crop grown more on plantation than by individual commercial farmers.
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 A region 1 crop in Zimbabwe.
 High rainfall, over 1 000 mm, cool temperature, around 18°C but must be frost-free.
 Grown on mountain slopes with well-drained soils.
 Soils must be acidic.
 Cutting from high-yielding clones planted in nurseries under shade.
 Young plants covered by polythene.
 18 months later, the young plants are transferred to the fields with 11 000 plants to a hectare.
 Pruning must occur as the plants grow to maintain a one metre-height bush easy to pluck.
 Weeding clears the fields of unnecessary nutrient competitors.
 Plucking is done of two fresh leaves and a bud.
Processing and marketing
 The tea is processed on the farm hence factories are located here.
 Tea is perishable as it loses quality quickly, if not processed immediately after picking.
 It is withering in the factory to remove moisture in a controlled way.
 Then the tea is fermented until it is brownish black.
 It is then fired to dry it.
 Grading and tasting come next.
 Then the tea is packed in foiled packets or in chests, ready for marketing.
 The tea is sold on the home market in shops or overseas to consumers in the UK, Germany, USA and
Italy.
Problems
 In the Eastern Highlands, one problem has been that of frost destroying the bushes in winter.
 Heavy rains cause waterlogging which kills the tea bushes.
 Cyclones destroy the trees through powerful winds which uproot the bushes.
 Drought at times occurs leading to death of the trees through water shortages.
 The local market is small and poor.
 The quality of the tea is not comparable to that from India and Sri Lanka.
MAIZE FARMING IN ZIMBABWE

Maize farm near Harare

Growing conditions and growing area
 Staple food crop of Zimbabwe.
 Production is 2.8 million tonnes.
 Annually with 70% from communal farmers.
 Main producing area-ecological region 2.
 Rainfall-minimum 890 mm, otherwise supplement with irrigation temperature about 21° C but anything
between 15°C and 25°C would do.
 Soils are red clayey soils are the best, black earths also do, where soils are loams or sandy, much
fertilizer should be used.
 Seeds, hybrids from the Zimbabwe Seed Maize Association (ZSMA) are used, sown by seed drills in
straight line on ploughed and harrowed land.

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 If sown in September/October, irrigation is necessary.
 Weeding is done by hand or using cultivators.
 Spraying is also done against stalk borers and other pests.
 After tasselling, the cobs dry on the stalks, ready for harvesting.
 Processing and marketing
 Maize processing is a simple task done after harvesting.
 Harvesting is done by hand, cutting the plants and heaping stakes for later shelling or it is done by hired
combined harvesters which also shell.
 The maize is delivered to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) which stores it either in silos or on
protected platforms at growth points.
 Millers get it from here to make maize meal or they buy directly from farmers after it has been packed in
sacks.
 Cooking oil manufactured also buy the maize from the GMB.
 The crop is also used as cattle feed, either as green fodder or the cob and its seeds.
 Much is exported to other countries in the region especially Zambia and Mozambique.
Problems
 Pests like the maize stock borer, weevils and army worms may destroy the crop.
 Drought is another serious problem farmers have to take precautions by sinking very deep boreholes.
 Low prices on the local market has meant that commercial farmers have abandoned the crop or the more
lucrative tobacco, cotton, paprika or flowers, fixing low producer prices by the government has not
helped much.
 Heavy rains leach the soils completely destroying the crop.
 Costs of fertilisers and agro-chemicals have risen tremendously making it difficult for the farmers to
survive.
COTTON FARMING IN ZIMBABWE

Cotton field
Growing conditions and growing area
 Zimbabwe is the largest producer of the crop in Africa south of the Sahara.
 A bush crop grown in summer using dry land farming.
 Rainfall at least 600 mm in the growing season.
 Temperature wide tolerance but must exceed 21°C at ripening.
 Soils should be deep clayey soils which are the best although black earths would do.
 Sowing is done at start of rain season.
 Bush plants grow and weeding is done by hand.
 Spraying against boll weevils must occur.
 Picking occurs when balls ripen.
 70% of the lint is exported. 49% comes from communal farmers.
 After harvesting, the plants are burnt to kill all pests.
Processing and marketing
 After picking the cotton is packed in bales.

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 The bales are collected by Lorries to depots established by the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco).
 The cotton is sold as lint or seed the sale being controlled by Cottco.
 Lint is used to make clothes, blankets and furniture fabrics in the textile industry while seed is used to
manufactured vegetable oil and livestock protein cake.
 Both lint and seed are also exported for foreign currency during this period.
Problems
 Pests particularly weevils and aphids can destroy the crop.
 Exceptionally long, wet seasons spoil the crop as sunshine and heat are necessary for ripening.
 Competition is stiff from wool, silk and synthetic fibres from oil and coal.
 In a country like Zimbabwe, cotton picking is done manually, requiring a lot of contract labour.
 Some farmers do not burn stalks at prescribed times, leading to outbreaks of diseases.
WHEAT FARMING IN ZIMBABWE

Wheat field
Growing conditions and growing area
 Very capital-intensive crop growth mainly by commercial farmers in Zimbabwe.
 Capital required for seeds, irrigation equipment, fertilizers and machinery.
 Being a temperate crop, it is grown in winter under irrigation.
 Rainfall must be at least 1 000 mm and temperature between 15-24°
 Soils required are stiff loamy or clayey but well-drained soils necessary.
 Flat or undulating land ideal to enable use of machinery at harvesting.
 Main growing season is April to September.
 As crops grows irrigation by boom or overhead sprinkler method occurs as well as spraying by hand or
light aircraft.
 As the crops ripens, irrigation stops, seeds harden and dry up awaiting harvesting by combine
harvesters.
 Crop must be protected against birds.
Processing and marketing
 Wheat harvesting is done by use of combine harvesters which is cut and thrash the crop, leaving behind
thick broken stalks to use as livestock feed.
 The harvested wheat is collected in tractors to GMB depots.
 It is sold to millers by the Zimbabwe Agricultural Commodity Exchange (ZIMACE) who grind it to
flour for bread, scones and cakes.
 Zimbabwe produces 200 000 tonnes annually and must import another 100 000 tonnes to meet local
demand.
Problems
 Wheat rust and fungal infection requiring expensive chemicals to combat.
 Drought
 Quelea birds eating the crop before harvesting.
 Shortage of machinery at harvesting such machinery has to be hire from South Africa.

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 CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURE
 There is a direct correlationship between climate change and agriculture.
 The gradual change in climate has adversely affected agricultural activities putting many nations at a
higher risk of food insecurity.
 In most developing countries, the effects of climate change are very severe since they lack the necessary
equipment and funding to curb the adverse effects of climate change and guarantee food security.
 Climate change refers to the drastic shift in average weather phenomena associated with an increase in
global average temperatures in a given area over a few to many years.
 This phenomenon is also responsible for changes in sea level and ice mass loss in Greenland. 
Causes of climate change
 Climate change is mainly caused by greenhouse gases emitted from industrial activities.
 The greenhouse gases include: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane.
 Once trapped in the lower atmosphere, they trap heat hence resulting in global warming.
 Continued destruction of forests to pave way for agriculture and settlement is also causing climate
change.
 Cleared forests are later burnt thereby emitting carbon dioxide which adds on to the amount of other
greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere. 
 Crop production in paddy fields is also another cause of climate change because their cultivation results
in the emission of methane in the atmosphere.
 However, most agronomists are of the idea that agricultural production will mostly be affected by severe
and not gradual changes in climatic trends.
 This is so because climate change avails time to all living organisms to adjust and adapt to the new
living conditions. 
 Climatic change is caused by high rates of emission of greenhouse gases, for example,
chlorofluorocarbons are widely used in appliance such as refrigerators.
 If their use is not regulated, they damage the atmosphere by depleting the ozone layer as well as
trapping heat in the atmosphere resulting in climate change.
Effects of climate change on agriculture 
 Climate change has several effects on agricultural processes, however, it should be noted that
agricultural production is differently affected from one ecological region to the other.
 In most marginal areas characterised by poor soils and limited 
ZIMBABWE AGRO ECOLOGICAL REGIONS
 The map above shows that Zimbabwe is subdivided into different ecological regions which have
different characteristics in climate and soil types.
 The effects of climate change in Zimbabwe are severe in regions four and five since these areas are
naturally characterised by poor soils and limited rainfall.
 A further increase in temperatures makes these regions less productive. 
 Climate change often leads to global warming which negatively affects agriculture by creating
conditions which facilitate the multiplication of pests and insects.
 The pests and insects mainly affect crops like maize, wheat and soya beans, for example, research done
in Japan indicated that beetles in the fields with increased carbon dioxide laid more eggs on the soya
bean plants thereby putting the crop at a higher risk of being devastated by the pests. 
 Agriculture is also affected by climate change because an increase in temperature often results in crop
wilting hence crop failure.
 Moreso, the scourging heat destroys pastures putting livestock farmers at risk.
 Climate change also alters the developmental stages of pathogens and this affects crop and animal
quality and quantity.
 A series of drought ravaging parts of Africa, Southern Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and
some parts of America can be traced back to the effects of climate change as evidenced by an increase
of levels of global warming.
 The effects of drought on agriculture is worsened by an increase in demand for water resource due to
population growth being experienced worldwide. 
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 Climate change in Europe lead to crop failure hence a reduction in crop yields.
 The reduction in crop yields are mainly due to heat waves experienced which are directly linked to
climate change.
 Falling crop yields also results in rise in food prices locally and globally thereby lowering living
standards of the general populace.
 Schneider et al (2009) projected that by the year 2100, global mean temperature will increase by at least
3 degrees Celsius which in turn will affect cereal production in most areas.
 Projections also suggest that there could be a larger increase in hunger occurrences by year 2080 if there
are no global efforts put in place to curb the effects of climate change. 
 Climate change has resulted in occurrence of El Nino in and beyond Zimbabwe.
 El Nino often results in floods which have negatively impacted on crop and animal production and
attainment of food security.
SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE
Mitigation measures to climate change 
 Although climate change has become a global problem, several measures can be put in place to curb the
effects of climate change on agricultural productivity.
 Efforts should be made to regulate and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emission into the
atmosphere.
 Reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases emitted would lead to a decrease in the effects of climate
change hence food security is guaranteed. 
 There should be efforts made to create the necessary agricultural technologies and utilising them enable
countries to adapt their agricultural systems to changing climates.
 Some of these technologies include the drip irrigation kits which are used to ensure effective watering of
crops in areas with limited water sources.
Drip Irrigation as A Way of Mitigating Against Climate Change
 New varieties of seeds and new breeds of animals can be devised whose genetics should be altered to
suite the prevailing conditions.
 Maize seed producers in Zimbabwe have embarked on this long journey to produce seeds capable of
yielding much in the prevailing limited climatic conditions.
 To aid communal farmers comprehend maize varieties, they have incorporated animal names which are
found locally, for example, elephant, zebra and hare. 
 The government should develop and implement policies which restricts emission of greenhouse gases
which pollute the air hence resulting in climate change.
 These should be done to foster agricultural specialization according to agro ecological regions.
 Moreso, farmers should be educated on the best agricultural projects which suites their environments. 
 Livestock farmers should identify and promote the adoption and cross breeding of indigenous livestock
breeds that are tolerant to conditions created by climate change, for example, the hard Mashona breed is
resistant to diseases and can survive on limited water.
 Adoption of conventions and protocols on climate change and global warming also help in fighting
against effects of climate change.
DROUGHT RESISTENT LIVESTOCK
Challenges Found In Effects of Climate Change Mitigation
 Although efforts are being made to mitigate effects of climate change on agriculture in Zimbabwe, the
country is still faced with several challenges and some of these include:
 Limited knowledge and capacity to respond to climate change by most communal farmers
 Limited resources and infrastructure to mitigate climate change.
 Inadequate funding and support for the development of agricultural technologies which can be utilized
in the face of climate change.
 Limited empowerment of communities to access resources which helps them to maintain high yields in
areas affected by climate change.
 people have little access to information relating to climate change

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 URBAN AGRICULTURE
 Urban agriculture refers to a form of intensive farming which is practiced in most urban areas on open
spaces.
 The production is done on small farm units and it is usually done by urban dwellers mainly to
supplement food stuffs and incomes due to a poorly performing economy.
 Several urban dwellers are associated with urban farming.
 Urban agriculture involves cultivation, processing and distributing in and around a city.
 Urban agriculture mainly produces food crops like maize, vegetables, sweet potatoes, butternuts and
beans.
 At times they are   also involved in the rearing of small livestock like rabbits and poultry.
 They often utilize land which belongs to the city council or private owners lying idle or undeveloped.
 In some instances, they do their farming in wetlands and along major streams thereby putting the
environment at a higher risk of environmental degradation.
 In Harare it is estimated that about 12% of land is being used for urban agriculture. 
 Moreso, urban agriculture is a source of revenue to some heads of families since surplus produce can be
sold thereby generating cash to cater for bills and urban life utilities.
 In this light, urban agriculture becomes a form of employment to many people since their sustenance is
hinged on these small urban plots. 
 Socially, urban farming promotes a sense of ujamaa (familihood) by joining people when they divide
land among themselves.
 Boundaries established should be religiously respected to avoid conflict of interest.
 Urban agriculture also utilises land lying idle, thereby contributing meaningfully to the country’s
agricultural production and the quest to ensure food security is satisfied. 
Problems of urban agriculture
 Although urban agriculture contributes much socially and economically, it’s practising causes a lot of
problems in urban areas resulting in numerous environmental, social and economic problems.
 Urban agriculture involves the use of fertilisers intensively to maximise yields per unit area.
 Over use of fertiliser often results in the problems of eutrophication, in which excess fertilisers which
are not used by crops are carried and deposited into water bodies.
 Eutrophication is such a big problem because it pollutes the water resource thereby putting people's
health at stake. 
 Environmentalists have also argued against urban farming because it pollutes the environment.
 Pesticides and herbicides used are dangerous since their overuse in controlling pests and weeds has a
higher chance of causing ill health to the people.
 This has resulted in the banning of DDT in the 19th century.
 The other challenge of urban farming is that if farmers are utilizing land which does not rightfully
belong to them, it causes numerous conflicts.
 Conflicts often erupt between the farmers and private land owners or between them and city council
officials.
 In some cases of conflicts, the farmer's crops are slashed by municipal police. 
 Farming mainly done in wetlands and along river banks often results on the problem of serious soil
erosion that leads to river and dam siltation.
 More so wetlands dry up posing a threat to aqua related ecosystems.
 Soil erosion also aids in the blocking of drains and culverts thereby increasing chances of road damage
and flooding. 
 Urban agriculture on top of buildings

Solutions to Problems Caused By Urban Agriculture

 The following measures can be utilised to solve the problems caused by urban agriculture:
 Urban farmers should be encouraged to use organic fertilisers which have less damage on the
environment.
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 There should be legislation and strict enforcement of the law against any form of farming done on
wetlands.
 Since farms are small, farmers should be encouraged to use manual methods of combating pests like
handpicking and the biological method since they are environmentally friendly.
 Farming should only be practiced 30meters away from the streams to reduce soil erosion and river and
dam siltation.
 Municipal and council authorities should make efforts to avail land to urban farmers to minimise
conflict of interest with owners. 
Advantages of Urban Agriculture 
 The main advantage of urban agriculture is that; it is a source of livelihood for several households. The
small farm produce helps to cater for food needs for most families in urban setups thereby guaranteeing
food security.
 In most urban areas open spaces and private owners' undeveloped lands are often used as dumping sites.
Urban agriculture helps in reducing sites in which refuse is dumped by utilising them in a productive
manner of producing food.
 Urban farms create a market for agro-based industries, for example, those which produce fertilisers like
ZIMPHOS and those that produce agro- chemicals such as Agricura.
AGRICULTURAL PESTS AND DISEASES
 Agricultural production in several countries and ecological regions has always been at stake due to the
outbreak of pests and diseases, which reduces crops and animal’s quality and quantities.
Pests
 More often, pests and diseases lead to crop failure and death of animals.
 In the long run, they lead to a decline in the agricultural yields thereby compromising food security and
ushering several households into periods of starvation. 
 The term pest refers to any animal or organism which is detrimental to both pests and diseases because
their presence in the agricultural system often leads to some form of damage which reduces agricultural
productivity.
 It is of paramount importance to note that there is a direct correlation between types of pests common in
areas and their prevailing climatic conditions, for example, in Zimbabwe the common pest in Zambezi
valley is tsetse fly which causes nagana in livestock and sleeping sickness in people.
 Tsetse fly is common in Zambezi area because it is characterised by relatively high temperatures. 
 The Zambezi Valley tsetse fly affects agriculture.
 Cereal crops, leguminous and livestock are affected by different pests.
 The table below gives in brief the common pests affecting types of crops and animals
PESTS AFFECTING CROPS AND ANIMALS
Pests Description And Effects On Crops Control

 Maize  It is a common pest in maize, larvae burrows maize stems  Crop rotation
stalk borer and cobs  Spraying Rogor Pesticide
 Army worm is a larvae which appears in large numbers.
 Army  Spray with dip terex or
 It feeds on all plants like maize, wheat and corn.
worm carbaryl
 They consume all the leaf parts leaving the mid rib
 It burrows and feeds in dry grain.  Treating grains with dust
 Weevil  It deposits eggs within the grain where they fully develop pesticides.
into larvae and pupa  dust and Shumba dust
 They transmit viruses when feeding. When a plant is
 Aphids highly affected it leads to stunted growth, reproductive  Spray using carbarly and rogor
failure  and leaf colouring
 Quelea  The birds migrate in numbers.  Trapping birds with nets,
birds  They mainly target wheat fields scaring birds using metal haze
 Red  A spin fine web on leaves and plants mainly affects beans  Spraying using dicofol such as
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 Pests Description And Effects On Crops Control

spider
Suck cell sap among moulting of leaves Chirindamatura
mite

Diseases
 Agricultural crops and animals are often affected by diseases which can be classified as follows: fungal,
bacterial or viral. The table below shows the common agricultural diseases, their causes, effects and
possible measures of combating them.
Disease Causes, Effects and Control
Disease Cause and effect on agriculture Ways of controlling
 Vaccinating animals before outbreak,
 Foot and
 It is caused by a virus called  Quarantine all suspected animals.
mouth
picornavirus animals  Proper disposal or burning of dead animals,
diseases
 Control animal movement
 Caused by a protozoa called
 Nagana  Use of barrel antecede
trypanosoma
 Difficult to treat
 It is a bacterial discap which affects  Never open carcases of dead animals.
cow, sheep, pigs and goats spread
 Anthrax  Burn completely or deeply bury carcasses.
through ingestion of contaminated
 Can use anti biotic, for example,
pastures
 procane , penicillin, tetramycin and
 They often damage crops after  Killing rodents using manual traps, for example,
 Rodents and harvest. rat traps.
fungi  They contaminate grains with urine  Use of poisoned baits, harvested grain should be
and droppings stored in secure store houses.
Pests control methods
 To ensure high productivity in agricultural activities pests should be controlled.
 Farmers should understand that there are manual, biological and chemical ways which can be used to
combat pests to obtain high yields of good quality per unit area.
Manual methods
 When crops and animals have been affected by pests, farmers can combat these pests through manual
methods, for example, wheat farmers in Birchenough bridge use traps to reduce quelea birds from
damaging crops.
 Moreso, pests like mice and rats can be eliminated using rat traps.
The rat trap 
 Farmers involved in livestock may control exogenous pests like ticks through the process of hand
picking.
 Mostly affected crops and animals should be hacked off by the farmer to prevent further damage of the
crops and animals.
 Hand picking is also useful in crop production.
 Some large pests like worms and beetles can be picked and thrashed, aphids are often rubbed on affected
leaf resulting in their death.
 Pests can be combated through a manual method of shacking the plant.
 Shacking a plant is done to dislodge pests from the crop.
 Once shacked, the pest may fall on the ground where they are squashed or they fly away.
 This method is commonly used by fruit tree farmers.
 Physical barriers are also designed to prevent the pests from reaching the crop.
 A common example of physical barrier used in Zimbabwe is the green house.

The Greenhouse
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 Other examples of physical barriers include weed free zones, row covers and fences.
 Advantages of manual method of controlling pest
 Manual method often deals with the targeted pests only rather than accidentally killing other organisms
important for some processes in an ecosystem.
 It is also very effective on small farm units, for example, a family garden.
 Most manual methods are cheap since they utilise the farmers' knowledge and some resources found
locally available and cheaply.
 Manual methods are also environmentally friendly, quick and some pests trapped like mice and some
insects, for example, locusts may be also used as food for the farmer.
Disadvantages of manual method of controlling pests
 The method is only be applicable on small scale
 Manual methods are often labour intensive and cumbersome.
Biological methods of controlling pests
 When pests are controlled biologically, natural enemies are incorporated in the farm system to militate
against pests.
 The natural enemies introduced are biological control agents or bio agents.
 In biological control methods, pathogens can be used to control pests.
 In this method insect pathogens or diseases causing organisms such as virus, bacteria and fungi are used
to control pests.
 For example, the bacteria called bacillus thruringienisis is commonly used to control moth, butterfly and
beetles.
 Biological pest control also involves the use of predators, for example, the lay bird and praying mantis
feeds on aphids.
 The effect of predators is that it will consume a considerable number of pests.
Advantages of biological pest control method
 Just like manual methods biological control method is cost effective thus it is cheap.
 It is also often easy to apply since after introducing a new parasitic species in the environment, the
system continues to operate independently.
 The biological control agents are non- polluting hence the method is environmentally friendly.
Disadvantages of biological pest control method
 Introduction of a new specie in the environment may disrupt and disturb the natural ecosystem.
 It requires proper planning to develop a successful biological control system.
 It is one of the slowest type of controlling pest so it requires a lot of time for biological agents to wipe
away the pests.
Chemical method of controlling pests
 Chemical control of pests involves the use of chemicals in curbing agricultural pests.
 The chemicals used in controlling pests are called pesticides.
 It is of paramount importance to note that pesticides operate differently in the controlling of pests.
 Some are stomach poisons whilst some kill through contact.
 Most of the pesticides are used to control pests in cereals, vegetables and legumes but they should be
used appropriately.
Advantages of chemical control
 Chemical control methods often produce rapid response results in pest controlling.
 They are also feasible to use on a large scale.
 Chemical methods can be accessed in various forms such as dusts, fumigants and sprays.
 It is one of the most effective ways of controlling pests.
Disadvantages of chemical control method
 Pesticides are quite expensive to buy
 They also have a tendency of killing none targeted organisms, for instance, bees which are of paramount
importance in ecological systems because they facilitate cross pollination.
 Their use requires expertise and precision in mixing.
 Caution should be practised during application.
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 Chemical control methods need a safety harvesting interval hence it is not user friendly
 They are not environmentally friendly; they pollute the air.
AGRI-BUSINESS
 Agribusiness refers to agricultural activities conducted strictly on commercial principles.
 It includes all industries dealing with agricultural produce and services utilized in farming system.
 The term agribusiness was coined by Goldberg and Davis (1951), it involves production of farm
machinery, agro chemicals, crop production, breeding, distribution of farm produce and marketing of
agricultural related products
Types of agribusiness in Zimbabwe 
 Zimbabwe's economy is agro based since almost 80% of its population survives on agriculture related
activities.
 Such a set up creates a fertile ground for the conception of several agribusinesses. 
 The following agribusiness are common in Zimbabwe: 
Herb growing
 Of late there has been a shift by people from current medicines prescribed by health practioners in
clinics and hospitals to the use of herbs since they are believed to be effective in the treatment of
different ailments and have less side effects.
 Such a drastic shift has made herb growing a lucrative agribusiness.
 Herbs like aloevera, mint and moringa can be grown at home or farm and generate income when they
are sold. 
Vegetable farming
 A variety of vegetables can be grown, harvested and sold to generate money for self-sustainance. Some
of the vegetables which can be grown are cabbages, carrots, beans, spinach and peas. 
Fruit growing
 Education offered on good health tips have opened a vast market for fruits.
 In Zimbabwe fruits such as apples, pine apples, bananas, oranges, plums and peaches can be grown for
sell.
 In addition these fruits can be processed further to produce fruit based products like drinks, jam and fruit
juice. 
Fish farming
 Fish farming is also one of the fast growing agribusiness in Zimbabwe.
 In most cases, fish farming is practised in large tanks or enclosures in which fish is raised.
 Some schools in Mutare district have embarked on aquaculture as an income generating project and as a
means of inculcating entrepreneur skills in learners, for example, Karirwi Primary School.
Mushroom farming
 In Zimbabwe, another brisk agribusiness is mushroom farming.
 Different types of mushroom are grown for sale. 
Bee keeping
 Bee keeping has of late been considered as one of the most viable agribusiness since it leads to honey
production.
 The honey obtained can be sold to consumers or to processors.
 Moreover, bee wax collected can be sold to processing companies or individuals who further process it
to make final products like candles.
Hatchery business
 In Zimbabwe, many people are now into hatchery projects, for example, communal farmers.
 In Zimunya area, they have their hatchery equipment situated at Dzobo Primary School.
 They procure eggs from the local people and hatch chicks for sell and they also assist locals to hatch the
eggs for a fee. 
Sources of funding for small scale agribusiness
 There is a multi-billion financial gap worldwide due to a continued expansion of markets for food items
mainly caused by growth in both income and population increase.

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 In sub-Saharan Africa alone, it is estimated that about $11 billion is needed annually to finance
agribusiness.
 Although there are limited sources of funding for small scale agribusiness, there are some available in
Zimbabwe which are: 
 Local banks, for example, Agribank offers loans to finance agribusiness.
 In Zimbabwe, Development Finance Institutions also avails loans for small scale agribusiness.
 Some of these finance institutions are Microplan Finance and Get bucks. 
 Informal credit facilitates are also a source of funds for agribusiness and locally its called "mikando". 
 Agribusinesses can also be financed through corporative efforts, where people with little venture capital
pull together their monetary resources to finance their agribusiness.
 Agribusiness is also financed by non-governmental organisations such as Sustainable Agricultural Trust
(SAT) and Youth Dialogue Zimbabwe.
 In Zimbabwe farmers can also obtain financial assistance through the Small and Medium Enterprise
Development Cooperation (SEDCO).
The significance of agribusiness to the individuals and the economy
 Agribusiness creates several benefits to both the individual and the economies of countries in which
they are practiced. 
Advantages of agribusiness on the individuals
 To many families and individuals, agribusiness is a source of livelihood.
 Families earn a living through selling of agricultural products and other agricultural related products.
 There is general improvement in the people's standards of living as people can now afford a better diet.
 Ensures a health life through increased access to a balanced diet.
 Agribusiness farms offer hands on training to farm workers which can be utilized to search for
employment in the future.
Advantages of agribusiness to the economy
 Agribusiness ensure food security hence it aids the country's economy since there will be no need for the
government to incur cost in purchasing food items to feed its populace.
 Agribusiness also creates numerous employment opportunities which help in reducing unemployment
rates by absorbing school leavers.
 Where agribusiness is done efficiently, it increases the gross domestic product of a country.
 At times agribusiness products are exported to other countries thereby generating the much needed
foreign currency to the host economy.
 Agribusiness operations require the use of machinery and agro chemicals.
 The presence of such demand aids to the country's economy since it avails a ready market for its agro
chemicals.
 Agribusiness also plays a crucial role in the economy of a country because it supplies agro industries
with raw materials, for example, a bee keeping agri business operating formerly is taxed.
 However, it should be noted that over 50% of players in agribusiness are operating informally.
 Their businesses are not registered so the government is losing a lot of money from such activities. 
Here is what we have discussed in this topic
 Climate change affects agriculture
 Climate change is caused by human and physical factors
 There are several ways to mitigate against the effects of climate change
 Pests and  diseases  can  be  controlled  using  biological  and  chemical methods
 Urban agriculture is practiced on intensive basis, making maximum use of open spaces in towns and
cities
 Urban agriculture leads to severe environmental problems though it contributes positively socially and
economically
 Agri-business has  become  a  lucrative  form  of  agriculture  in  most countries
 Definition of terms used in this topic 
 Agribusiness: it refers to the management of a farm as a business.
 It involves production, processing and marketing.
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 Capital: any form of money used to start a business or human capital.
 Climate  change:  it  is  a  shift  in  the  average  weather  or  climatic  patterns experienced by given
areas.
 Eutrophication:    it is a process through which excess inorganic fertilisers are deposited into water
bodies thereby causing water pollution.
 Pest: is any animal or organism detrimental to plant and animal health.

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